On Saturday the 8th of February 2025, at 5 PM in Central European Time, we held a virtual meetup to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Google Maps, as part of the 10 years Local Guides program celebrations. That was exactly 20 years after Google Maps was launched, on February 8, 2005. And given the time difference between Europe and Silicon Valley, the starting time of the meetup corresponded to 8 AM in California - the beginning of the working day… So somewhere in the course of our 1 hour meetup might have been the exact moment when, 20 years ago, someone pushed the button (or more likely clicked the mouse) to reveal Google Maps to the world.
I had prepared a short presentation highlighting some of the ways Google Maps looked during those 20 years, by means of screenshots taken from the internet archive The Wayback Machine. (In case you are not familiar with that: you can use that to see what publicly available websites looked like in the past - an absolutely astonishing tool).
You can take a look at the presentation I showed during the meetup here:
20Y Google Maps.pdf (4.1 MB)
After the presentations, all participants had the option to talk about their favourite feature of Maps, which quite a few did. We even pondered a bit about the future of Google Maps and the possibly intensified integration of Waze in the coming years.
Towards the end of the meetup, co-host @Globe_trotter_Ish lit a candle on the birthday cake she had brought along. There was the obligatory singing of ‘Happy birthday’ obviously, so @Globe_trotter_Ish could blow out the candle - I wonder what she wished for 
Here is also one of the pictures she took during the session
It was really wonderful to see all those participants, especially since almost all continents were represented! The local guides from Australia were not attending, but they were excused as it was literally the middle of the night there - but all other continents were there: Asia, Africa, Europe, North-America and South-America. THANKS EVERYONE FOR ATTENDING!
There’s one more thing I would like to share with you: one of the participants, @LaloPadilla from Mexico, kinda accidentally started an AI-tool to summarize the meeting, so I asked him what the result had been. And it was pretty good… I will leave the final judgement to the other participants, but as far as I can tell, it’s a pretty decent summary. I will share it below exactly as the tool provided it, only adding the @ tags of the local guides mentioned.
AI-Summary
Jan Van Haver commemorated the 20th anniversary of Google Maps, reflecting on its launch and the evolution of navigation from traditional methods to digital solutions. He provided a historical overview, discussing the initial reliance on Navteq for map data and showcasing the original interface, which featured basic navigation capabilities. Jan highlighted significant improvements made by 2010 and 2015, including the introduction of business listings and enhanced visuals, as well as the ability to view historical images through the Street View feature.
The discussion shifted to participants sharing their favorite features of Google Maps. Jan expressed his admiration for public transit navigation, while @Globe_trotter_Ish highlighted the lists feature for personal and social causes. @Sagir and @SholaIB emphasized the importance of navigation in their daily lives, particularly in unfamiliar areas. @Kumaarsantosh mentioned the value of both navigation and the edit feature for ensuring accurate directions, and @MarcoDavoli noted using Google Maps as an address book for his business, showcasing its versatility.
The integration of Waze into Google Maps was also discussed, with @AdrianLunsong sharing his preference for Waze’s navigation instructions. @JustJake appreciated the augmented reality features and public transit integration, while @PrasadVR expressed satisfaction in contributing to Google Maps. Adrian raised questions about the effectiveness of Waze compared to Google Maps for suggesting edits, and Jake highlighted Waze’s community-driven moderation. The meeting concluded with Jan thanking participants and mentioning future meetups.
. I was able to know my fellow LG 's favourite features of Google map.The best part was cake cutting by 
. See you next time!
